Douglass School
Greenville, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This school was established in the early 1900s in the historic East Hill Community of Greenville. Known as East Colored School, it was one of three schools that were established for blacks to attend during segregation. The school was renamed Fred Douglass in 1928 when the new school building was built. This was also the site of the original Colored School Building, the foundation of which is embedded into the ground. The school taught grades 1 through 8 for the black community. In 1930, Mary J. Morris was named principal at the school, making her the first African American woman to hold that position in Greenville. The school building is a one-story light brick building. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2014
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in Greenville's historic East Hill Community in the early 1900s, this was one of three schools for Black children during segregation, first known as the East Colored School. It was renamed for Frederick Douglass in 1928 when a new brick building rose, and it taught grades one through eight for the African American community. In 1930 Mary J. Morris became principal here—the first African American woman to hold that role in Greenville.
Why it matters
Douglass School stands as a monument to the determination of Black communities to educate their children under the injustice of segregation, and to the pioneering women who led them.
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Related people
- · Mary J. Morris
- · Frederick Douglass
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Blanton School
Wolfe City, TX
Built in 1923, Blanton School was one of thousands of schools for Black children created through the partnership of educator Booker T. Washington and Sears president Julius Rosenwald, who matched funds raised by the local African American community. Its design maximized natural light and ventilation, and its calendar bent to the cotton harvest so students could work the fields each fall. With just three teachers for seventy students in grades one through eight, it served Wolfe City's Black families until Hunt County schools integrated in 1965.
Mary Jim Morris
Greenville, TX
Born in Georgia in 1876 and settled in Greenville by 1899, Mary Jim Morris earned her teaching certificate at a county institute for Black teachers just as African American children were first gaining access to schools in Hunt County. She taught for 45 years at Greenville's segregated schools, earned her college degree from Prairie View A&M in 1934, and in 1930 became principal of Fred Douglass Elementary. A devoted missionary at New Hope Baptist Church, she pushed her students to outdo every other school in Texas.
First Baptist Church
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Organized in a Masonic hall in 1858 with nineteen charter members, Greenville's First Baptist Church took root just before the Civil War, during which the congregation withdrew to nearby Center Point before returning to town. Its records note that its first convert was Eliza Stevens, an enslaved woman. The church raised its first building in 1873, helped found Burleson College in 1895, and gave rise to eight other Baptist congregations over the decades.
Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
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